Just less than a week after a young boy is rescued from the Kansas River in Topeka, another community remembers one of their own who was not as fortunate.

Family and friends of 9-year-old Michael Zapletal dedicate a statue in his honor Thursday. The group blessed the statue before walking more than a mile to the cemetery where Michael's tombstone lays.

Zapletal went missing last August when a sandbar he was standing on in the Kansas River gave away. His body was never found.

Michael's father says support of the community has helped his family deal with the loss.